Marta Sanchez Trio with Chris Tordini and Savannah Harris: Perpetual Void

Marta Sanchez and her trio of bassist Chris Tordini and drummer Savannah Harris want their listeners to endeavor to keep up. Judging by the opening two tracks on Perpertual Void, keeping the pace might be a tall task. The Madrid-born New York-based pianist spins a dizzying web with "I Don't Wanna Live The Life And Then Die" and "3:30 AM," referencing her yearlong (2020) bout with insomnia. Her compositions are taut high-wire balancing acts that most certainly could not be performed by lesser piano trios.

Perpertual Void is Sanchez's fifth album as a leader and her first trio recording. In 2022, she released SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) with her quintet plus guests (Whirlwind Recordings). Here, stripped down to a trio, she trades musical arrangements for three-way interplay. The pianist does relent a bit with "The Absence Of The People You Long For." She slows the pace, which benefits the listener's ability to track the composer's process and the interaction between players, plus a nifty solo by Tordini.

When an artist such as Sanchez has a consummate working trio, as we find here, she can fully put her talents to use. With a composition such as "The Love Unable To Give," the trio effortlessly maneuvers altered time signatures, In "Black Cyclone," Sanchez floats her melody over the rush of Tordini's rhythm and Harris' busy drum work. She gives us some relief from her sleepless struggles with two compositions, "Prelude To Grief" and "Prelude To Heartache," both improvised solo performances that act as journaling exercises in which the pianist expresses her inner thoughts. These solo excursions help to explain the exciting splintered sounds of "29B" and the relief that is found in the philosophical "The End Of That Period." Perpertual Void is a mini-masterpiece.

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